The conventional techniques to detect circulating tumour cells (CTCs) are lengthy and the use of centrifugal forces in this technique may cause cell mortality. As the number of CTCs in patients is quite low, the present study aims towards a gentler diagnostic procedure so as not to lose too many CTCs during the sample preparation process. Hence, a Three-Dimensional Microwell dialysis (3D-μDialysis) chip was designed in this study to perform gentle fluorescence-removal process by using dialysis-type flow processes without centrifuging. This leads to a minimum manual handling of CTCs obtained in our study without any contamination. In addition, a rapid staining process which necessitates only about half the time of conventional techniques (35 minutes instead of 90 minutes) is being illustrated by the employment of dialysis process (by dynamically removing water and waste at once) instead of only static diffusion (by statically removing only waste by diffusion). Staining efficiency of our technique is improved over conventional staining because of the flow rate in 3D-μDialysis staining. Moreover, the staining process has been validated with clinical whole blood samples from three TNM stage IV colon cancer patients. The current technique may be termed as "miniature rapid staining and dialysing system".

中文翻译：

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三维微孔透析（3D-μDialysis）芯片中循环肿瘤细胞的快速染色。

检测循环肿瘤细胞（CTC）的常规技术很长，在此技术中使用离心力可能会导致细胞死亡。由于患者中CTC的数量非常少，因此本研究旨在建立一种较为温和的诊断程序，以免在样品制备过程中损失过多的CTC。因此，在这项研究中，设计了三维微孔透析（3D-μDialysis）芯片，以通过使用透析型流动过程而无需离心进行温和的荧光去除过程。这导致在我们的研究中获得的CTC的最小人工处理而没有任何污染。此外，快速透析过程仅需使用传统技术的一半时间（35分钟而不是90分钟），这是通过采用透析过程（通过一次动态去除水和废物）而不是静态扩散（通过静态去除）来说明的。仅因扩散而浪费）。由于3D-μD透析染色的流速，我们的技术的染色效率比传统染色有所提高。此外，已经用来自三名TNM IV期结肠癌患者的临床全血样本验证了染色过程。当前的技术可以被称为“微型快速染色和透析系统”。由于3D-μD透析染色的流速，我们的技术的染色效率比传统染色有所提高。此外，已经用来自三名TNM IV期结肠癌患者的临床全血样本验证了染色过程。当前的技术可以被称为“微型快速染色和透析系统”。由于3D-μD透析染色的流速，我们的技术的染色效率比传统染色有所提高。此外，已经用来自三名TNM IV期结肠癌患者的临床全血样本验证了染色过程。当前的技术可以被称为“微型快速染色和透析系统”。